Chương 66: Chapter 63: The Dragon’s Breath

With the team fully geared and the statuses updated, we gathered around the massive double doors. The heavy, iron-reinforced timber bar securing the threshold looked like it weighed easily four hundred pounds, but with our combined, post-leveling strength attributes, we managed to collectively lift and heave the brace out of its iron brackets, setting it down with a muted thud.

Joe and Pete gripped the forged iron handles, bracing their boots against the flagstones to pull the doors open, while Mike lowered his center of gravity, preparing to drop into sneak and rush through the door.

"Not this time, son," I said, placing a firm, heavy hand on his shoulder.

"You are not sprinting onto a room blind when there's an active dungeon boss anchoring the floor."

"But my tracking passives and sneak modifiers are statistically higher than yours," Mike countered quickly.

"I just hit Journeyman rank," I replied, a hard, confident edge to my voice.

"My sneak got more sneak. I'm going to pop my head in to check initial surroundings, locate the boss and then we formulate the plan of action. We take this slow, and we take it carefully." Mike nodded his confirmation, and stepped back into the defensive stack. I looked at Pete, signaling him with a raised finger.

"Crack the right side just wide enough for me to slip the gap." I instantly channeled my mana and dropped into my newly upgraded stealth threshold. [Skill Activated: Sneak (Journeyman 1)] The ambient firelight from the Shaman's braziers seemed to physically warp around my silhouette, pulling the darkness tightly to my skin as I completely dissolved from sight. The moment Pete cracked the heavy wood, I rushed through the seam like a phantom, darting hard to the right to clear the primary line of sight.

The chamber beyond was immense, stretching into a massive, vaulted stone cavern. At the absolute back of the space, a monolithic reptile sat coiled atop a mound of cracked stone. Its primary attention was locked squarely on the shifting double doors; it hadn't registered my entry into the shadows. I swiped away the expected notification that I had entered the boss room: [Wyvern's roost] Keeping my breathing perfectly shallow, I focused my perception on its massive frame and triggered my scanning passive.

[Inspect Result: Adult Wyvern — Level 30 (Dungeon Boss)] I took a split-second mental snapshot of the arena's layout, spun on my heel, and bolted back through the narrow seam, stepping out of the stealth the moment I cleared the threshold.

"Pete, shut it," I hissed. The heavy door clicked shut. I exhaled a breath I hadn't realized I was holding.

"Okay, so... yeah. It's an adult wyvern, it's locked in at level thirty, and it is absolutely massive."

"Give us the details," Joe demanded, his fingers tightening on the stock of his Remington.

"The chamber is vast—easily two hundred feet from the door to the back wall, and just as wide," I explained, my mind racing.

"The monster is holding the back-center, and it is entirely alert. The second that door cracked, its eyes locked onto the opening. It's easily fifty feet from its snout to its tail barbs, but I couldn't get an accurate read on its true vertical height because it's crouched low in a predatory strike posture facing the doors. The only significant light source is a high-density radiance pulsing right behind its nest—that's got to be our dungeon core.

The vault ceiling is relatively low; the clearance doesn't look deep enough for it to achieve true flight, but those wings will grant it incredible ground velocity." I paused, looking at our standard recurves.

"Bows aren't going to pierce those scales at range. We go in loud from the first second. We bring the rifles and we burn its health pool down exactly like we did the adult snake."

"It failed to pierce my Journeyman stealth when I breached," I noted.

"If we throw both doors wide simultaneously, Mike and I can rush the left and right flanks under sneak, while the three of you advance through the center to lay down immediate covering fire. Joe, that match-grade. 308 is our primary heavy ordnance. We need you punching structural damage." Joe nodded grimly, cycling his heavy bolt to double-check the chambered round.

The rest of us stored our traditional bows and other melee weapons back into our storage rings, replacing them with the black, metallic frames of our AR-15 rifles.

"Is everyone ready?" I asked. The squad gave uniform nods. Joe and Pete grabbed the iron handles, flexing their muscles to swing the barriers wide.

"Me first," I commanded.

"I'm breaking right. Mike, take the left flank. Alex, the second you clear the door, do not freeze in the center of the threshold; the ambient light from the core behind the beast will back-light your frame and turn you into an absolute target. Break left or right behind Joe or Pete, but maintain your interval. We are going to need your vine whips and bramble walls to redirect its momentum. And under no circumstances does anyone attempt to tank this monster. It will tear a shield wall apart.

Spread out a bit and try to get it in a crossfire, and call out any weak spots the second you find them." Nodding to Pete and Joe, I engaged my stealth matrix. The doors flew open with a heavy boom, and I exploded into the cavern, sprinting hard along the right flank. The Wyvern was exactly where I had mapped it, its massive, scaled head lowered as it glared at the opening.

But as my boots cleared the fifty-foot mark along the perimeter wall, the creature's yellow, slit-pupil eyes suddenly snapped directly onto my position. [System Alert: Stealth Pierced by High-Tier Perception!] [Status Effect Inflicted: Dragon's Terror (Rank 4 Fear)] My stealth shattered, exposing me to the open air. An overwhelming wave of primal, supernatural dread slammed into my nervous system like a physical wall.

My muscles locked, my breath trapped in my throat, and my fingers froze against the rifle's trigger guard. I was completely paralyzed, staring eye-to-eye with a level thirty apex predator. The Wyvern's jaw unhinged, revealing rows of jagged, iron-thick teeth. A violent, deep-crimson glow ignited at the back of its throat as it inhaled a massive breath of air. Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. I'm done, the thought flashed through my frozen mind.

I'm about to be incinerated. POP-POP-POP-POP! A rapid string of high-velocity rifle fire erupted from the opposite side of the cavern. Mike had successfully maintained his sneak along the left flank, closing the distance before unleashing a disciplined magazine dump straight into the side of the monster's face and neck. The jacketed lead slammed into its sensitive eye-ridges, causing the Wyvern to shriek in sudden irritation. Its massive head jerked away from my position, snapping toward Mike.

The moment its direct line of sight broke, the supernatural paralysis lifted from my limbs, and my lungs expanded with a desperate gasp of air.

"It has an active fear aura!" I screamed across the cavern, my voice raw.

"Keep its attention moving or it'll lock you down! And watch that dragon's breath!" The Wyvern unleashed a massive, roaring gout of liquid fire straight toward the left wall. BOOM. Joe fired the Remington. The heavy. 308 round tore through the cavern, striking the Wyvern squarely in the thick plating of its left jaw. While the round didn't appear to do any real damage, the shear kinetic force slammed the wyvern's head back forcibly ending its powerful flame.

I scanned the left wall through the smoke and saw Mike executing a clean rolling dodge out of the impact zone before the liquid fire could coat his position. He rose to one knee, immediately re-engaging with his rifle, but the Wyvern's focus was now entirely locked onto Joe's. The monster's chest swelled as it prepared to unleash a secondary fire blast directly down the center lane. I didn't hesitate. I dropped back into the shadows, shifting my stance as I locked a skill onto the beast's massive neck.

[Skill Activated: Hunter's Mark (Beginner 4) +25% Damage Modifier] Sprinting with superhuman speed across the stone floor, I willed my AR-15 back into my storage ring and drew my enchanted steel sword in a single, fluid motion. The Wyvern's jaw opened to incinerate my team, and at that exact second, I slid beneath its forward shoulder, swinging my blade upward with every ounce of my twenty-nine Strength attribute.

The steel bit deep, slicing cleanly through the softer, unarmored pale scales lining the underside of its throat. The Wyvern let out a deafening roar of agony, its head jerking violently toward the ceiling as its fire blast discharged harmlessly into the vaulted rock above. But as it reared back, its massive, muscular left wing flared out in a reflexive defensive sweep. The heavy, ribbed appendage caught me squarely in the chest. The impact felt like being struck by a high-speed locomotive.

I was launched off my feet, flying fifty feet across the cavern before smashing brutally into the solid rock of the back wall. [Critical Impact! You have sustained 148 points of Physical Damage.] [Status Effect Inflicted: Stunned (Duration: 5 Seconds)] My health pool instantly plummeted by half, flashing an angry, deep crimson at the edge of my vision. My vision blurred, and my limbs refused to respond as the system-enforced stun locked my consciousness down.

Through the haze, I could hear the continuous, deafening roar of Pete and Alex's rifles maintaining the line, keeping the monster's attention focused toward the entry gate while my body slowly recovered from the kinetic trauma. The moment the five-second countdown cleared, I scrambled to my feet, reached into my vest pouch, and downed one of Alex's healing drafts while simultaneously channeling my remaining mana pool.

[Spell Cast: Minor Heal — +35 Health Restored] The soothing alchemical and magical energies flooded my system, knitting my bruised ribs and stabilizing my health bar back into a safe threshold. I spun around, searching the floor for my weapon; my sword had been knocked twenty feet to my right, resting against the stone of the back wall. I sprinted across the gap, wrapping my fingers around the leather hilt just as the Wyvern's massive head swung around, its yellow eyes locking onto my position behind its nest.

The beast let out a terrifying, earth-shaking roar, triggering a secondary Dragon's Terror debuff across my interface. Rifle fire continued to pelt its flanks, but the monster was entirely done ignoring me. Before the paralysis could completely freeze my limbs a second time, a shadow detached itself from the ceiling structure directly above the beast's head.

[Skill Activated: Ambush (Beginner 1)] Mike plummeted out of the darkness, dropping from his sneak status mid-air to land squarely on the bridge of the Wyvern's snout. With a savage yell, he drove his twin daggers down with absolute force, burying the blades straight into the monster's giant yellow eyes. The Wyvern thrashed in pure, unadulterated anguish. It unleashed a blinding, chaotic spray of fire breath while violently snapping its head backward to dislodge the attacker.

The massive skull struck Mike mid-air, launching him completely across the stone cavern. With the primary source of the fear aura blinded and convulsing, the debuff cleared from my screen. I sprinted frantically toward the far wall where Mike's unmoving body had been thrown. When I reached his side, my heart stopped. The liquid fire breath had caught him across his left side; his leather gear was scorched away, and his health pool was ticking violently into the critical black zone.

I slammed my palms onto his chest, burning the absolute remainder of my mana.

"Heal!" I roared. The light flashed over his burned skin. Without checking the log, I reached into my ring, pulled two healing potions, and forced the fluid down his throat as fast as I possibly could with my increased dexterity stats. The combined alchemical and magical healing stabilized his health bar, dragging him back from the threshold of permanent death, but his eyes remained closed, locked in an unconscious state. I spun back toward the arena, my eyes bloodshot as I roared over the noise of the rifles.

"Alex! Entangle the beast! Lock it down now!" Alex shoved his rifle into his ring, hoisting his new Dark-wood Focus Staff high into the air as he rapidly channeled his mana pool. [Skill Activated: Vine Whips (Journeyman 1)] Two thick, iron-hard magical vines erupted from the stone floor beneath the blinded Wyvern. The tendrils wrapped violently around its massive hind legs and pinned its immense wings flat against its torso, completely neutralizing its ground mobility as it thrashed in the center of the room.

Seeing that my primary healing cool-down had finally ticked down to zero, I hit Mike with one final minor heal to secure his health-pool. Then, turning my full fury toward the pinned monster, I drew my HK. 45 tactical pistol from my thigh holster and emptied the entire magazine straight into its exposed throat, the heavy slugs tearing through the soft flesh. As I dropped the empty magazine and slapped a fresh clip into the well, a massive, translucent blue spectral hand materialized from the dirt beside me.

I looked down in shock. Mike was still lying flat on his back, his jaw clenched in pure pain, but his right fist was clamped tightly shut, directing the magical construct from his back. The giant Mage Hand lunged across the chamber, wrapping its fingers completely around the Wyvern's thrashing neck and slamming its massive head flat against the stone flagstones with an audible crunch. Joe didn't hesitate for a single microsecond.

He broke formation, sprinting across the gap with his heavy Remington held like a spear. He slammed the hot steel barrel of the. 308 rifle straight into the ruined socket of the Wyvern's left eye, tilting the angle upward toward the brain cavity, and pulled the trigger. CRACK. The top of the Wyvern's skull erupted in a massive shower of bone and red mist. The immense reptilian torso went completely limp, crashing into the stone floor with a weight that shook the entire cavern foundation.

Instantly, the deafening noise of battle died away, and my entire field of vision was completely flooded with golden system notifications.